Ash Wednesday

American  

noun

1. the first day of Lent.

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Ash Wednesday British  

noun

1. the first day of Lent, named from the practice of Christians of placing ashes on their heads as a sign of penitence

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Ash Wednesday Cultural  

1. The seventh Wednesday before Easter; the first day of Lent for most Christians (see also Christian); the day after “Fat Tuesday,” or Mardi Gras. It is frequently observed as a day of fasting and repentance for sin. In some churches, ashes are placed on the foreheads of worshipers on Ash Wednesday as a reminder of their mortality. The words of God to Adam in the Bible (see also Bible) are often used in the ceremony: “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

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Usage

What is Ash Wednesday? Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, the season of fasting and penitence that precedes Easter in some branches of Christianity. Ash Wednesday gets its name from the tradition of placing ashes on worshippers’ foreheads as a sign of penitence and a reminder of their mortality.

Etymology

Origin of Ash Wednesday

First recorded in 1250–1300

Example Sentences

But in 1930 his poetic public was taken aback by Ash-Wednesday, his first published poem in five years.

From Time Magazine Archive

By its influence, the days of abstinence from meat are reduced to Ash-Wednesday and the Fridays in Lent, the last three days of the holy week, and the eve of the great festivals.

From Roman Catholicism in Spain by Anonymous

We have had the carnival of the Commune, and now Ash-Wednesday is come.

From Paris under the Commune The Seventy-Three Days of the Second Siege; with Numerous Illustrations, Sketches Taken on the Spot, and Portraits (from the Original Photographs) by Leighton, John

The theatrical year in Venice began on the first Sunday in October, and ended with the next Ash-Wednesday.

From The Memoirs of Count Carlo Gozzi Volume the Second by Gozzi, Count Carlo

A Commination Office for Ash-Wednesday, substantially identical with that still in use in the Church of England, concludes the book.

From A Short History of the Book of Common Prayer by Huntington, William Reed